Checkerboard Film Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit institution established in 1979 to document, through the medium of film and video, artists who are making unique and important contributions to the American arts.
Checkerboard's creative profiles fulfill educational and archival purposes for students, museums, libraries, universities, art historians and collectors, in the U.S. and abroad. They represent a visual time capsule of artistic achievements spanning the last half-Century.
Edgar Howard founded Checkerboard in 1979 to document the artistic process of those engaged in the visual arts. We believe that a greater understanding of an artist's work leads to a broadened appreciation for the work. This conclusion evolved from Howard's first film on artist Brice Marden, completed in 1977, and his second on photographer Duane Michals in 1978.
Checkerboard's initial production, The Climate of New York, coupled the poetry of Edwin Denby with the photographs of Rudy Burckhardt. It was selected, along with Duane Michals: 1939-1997, for screenings at The New York Film Festival.
Subsequently, Checkerboard received a grant from The National Endowment for the Arts to create three films on photographers Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind and Barbara Morgan. We were underway!
Since 1979, Checkerboard has produced over 60 films on the American arts. We are extremely grateful to the many supporters who have made this possible. Our films are acquired by an ever-expanding list of educational institutions and media outlets in the U.S. and abroad.
Our next major challenge is to archive and preserve an estimated 450 hours of interviews with artists, architects, photographers, writers, dancers, art historians, and others. Ultimately, we wish to make this material available for research purposes.
Edgar Howard, President
Susan Wald, Producer
Tom Piper, Production
David Leitner, Photography
Samantha Camacho, Production Associate
Gloria Sack, Accounting
Edgar Howard, President
Arvid Nelson, Treasurer
Leora Armstrong
Frances Beatty Adler
Elizabeth Belfer
Elisabeth Clark
Charles Howard
Leigh Seippel
Susan Wald
Thomas E. Zacharias
Tina Barney
Vivien Bittencourt
Frick Byers
Robert Cutler
Lisa Ehrenkranz
Bobbie Foshay
Hugh Freund
Linda Fritzinger
Sandy Gotham Meehan
Christopher Howard
Philip Isles
Vincent Katz
Wendy Keys
Peter Kraus
Peter MacGill
Alice Shure
Nicholas Stern
Richard B. Woodward